A team of CIM Horizons volunteers prepared the workshop on human rights and intercultural dialogue with Olga Stobiecka – Rozmiarek as the presenter. There were 2 three-hour meetings on Wednesday, September 20.
A group of 30 young people from 2 schools in Poznan with their teachers took part in the integration part and then in groups of 5 – 6 traveled between islands that symbolized: Tunisia, Chile and Germany, Algeria and Turkey, Ukraine and Latvia in the form of people from them and symbols concerning these countries.
As a conclusion to the intercultural workshop, we completed a Kahoot with 12 questions on all 4 positions with 7 Countries.
It was quite an effort for the children to communicate in English. At the same time, the students supported each other in translation. Meeting with representatives of the 7 countries was a great opportunity to practice languages and learn about words, geography, history, traditions, culture, and the volunteers themselves, who have their passions, and education and are currently doing volunteer work in the field of education.
In the final summary, the children shared their impressions. Most said that everything was fun and they learned about basic human rights. They did not complain about the extension of the class by 20 minutes. They appreciated the form of the meeting: games, movement, conversations in a foreign language. One person said it was interesting because it wasn’t just conversations. There were fun, interesting facts and a good variety of people and topics.
The educators themselves also noticed a lot of liveliness in the group and interest even among people who are not usually curious about new things or experiences. At the end of the class, together we created a wall of Kindness. In a large bridge, we inscribed phrases in different languages that are good and nice to hear, that bring kindness and atmosphere. They took this big poster with them to school. Our team was also pleased with the cooperation of the group and the educator. The children are eager to continue our meetings.
Visible to us is the challenge of multiculturalism. With the language barrier, it is easy to form groups, misunderstandings, and conflicts. During our classes, the children became very engaged. Most got curious and engaged. During the classes in smaller groups, foreign children also began to share their backgrounds. Also, we feel that this meeting certainly supported group integration.
We feel that bringing together island hosts even from seemingly distant places provides a lot of opportunities and brings freshness to us as organizers and facilitators. Working in pairs allows us to demonstrate similarities between cultures and connections between countries, which shows how all areas of life intermingle.
An added effect of the meeting is the initial declaration and desire to continue working with more high school students.
The “Intercultural Poznań” project was financed from the budget of the City of Poznań
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